Under the Moon of Naboo
by MissAnnThropic
Summary: They had only until dawn.


Title: Under the Moon of Naboo  
Author: MissAnnThropic  
Spoilers: Attack of the Clones  
Summary: They had only until dawn.  
Disclaimer: I own nasing! Really, I don't. All you see here (that you recognize, anyway) is the creation of someone else. I take no credit.

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Night had long since fallen on the waterfront Amidala family house on Naboo. Water birds that frequented the nearby islands, the weather so favorable that they did not migrate away from their homes, were quieted to give way to more nocturnal fauna. The night's symphony was a ghostly counterpart to Naboo's diurnal natural songs, but no less beautiful. Naboo could almost be called magical if one were so disposed to believe in such things; especially the grand Amidala home on the cusp of the water's edge was like something out of a sweet dream... a place that one might hope the afterlife would look like.

It was a sharp contrast to the turmoil outside its atmospheric shell, though so insanely peaceful on the surface that it seemed to be able to insulate its residents even from the newly erupted Clone Wars.

For those who had to fight the war, it was a tantalizing temptation to hide oneself from all comm stations and hope the war could simply pass them by unnoticed while they dwelt in this paradise.

Even for those most obligated to fight, the lure of Naboo was intoxicating... almost beyond the power of resistance for those most honed to fight such enticements.

The Amidala resort house was absolutely still, every single servant and house family member sound asleep... the only souls awake the late night guards who stood mostly at perimeters to allow their charges undisturbed sleep.

In one of the grand bed chambers, peace would shatter by another means other than indelicate guards.

On the elegantly carved antique nightstand nestled beside the master bed, a commlink device buzzed and chirped for attention.

The body mass in the center of the bed stirred. In the darkness that was softened only by the moonlight streaming in from the open balcony doors, the shifting soon showed the single form to instead truly be two bodies that had rested tightly as one.

Padme lay on her side, head half nestled into her soft pillow, half on the arm of her husband, and made no effort to move. At this hour, in the comfort of the company she kept, the outside world could wait until dawn as far as she was concerned. Muttering breathy dismissal in her throat, words to her thoughts that never quite took form on her lips, she settled back in to return to sleep.

The larger, lanky form tucked behind her was more easily roused, mind clearer more quickly. The comm signal was enough to awaken him beyond carelessly nestling back in for sleep, though the warmth of the body against him made it terribly tempting.

Anakin Skywalker shifted on the bed, removing the arm he'd had draped around Padme's waist and carefully sliding out the arm she held trapped under her. Padme's face crinkled faintly and she grunted in displeasure at the absence of his touch. Anakin smiled, rolling on to his back, then up on his other side, grabbing the commlink and activating it, "Yes." He didn't even sound tired, though he'd been awakened only seconds ago.

The slightly static-ridden voice that emitted forth from the small device was the only voice Anakin had really expected to hear, regardless of the hour of this call... that of his master Obi-Wan Kenobi's.

"Anakin, where are you?"

"With Senator Amidala, Master," Anakin answered plainly.

Padme, listening in while she lay still on the bed, smiled at her new husband's reply and tried not to make any sound that Obi-Wan might hear. It was true, of course, but Anakin meant it in an entirely different manner than that which Obi-Wan would assume he meant. The manner in which Obi-Wan would think it was to be taken was in the capacity in which Anakin was SUPPOSED to be on Naboo with her... escort and guard home and nothing more.

Obi-Wan obviously took the answer in a sense as innocent as it was wrong and continued, "The Jedi Council is recalling all of the available Jedi from off-world mission ventures for an emergency meeting."

Anakin sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed's edge, torso bare in the blue moonlight of Naboo's moon, fine linen sheet pooling around his waist and lap. Padme flipped over to face him, staring at his back. She thought of reaching out and touching him, running her fingers lovingly and playfully over his skin, but she decided against it at the last minute lest she elicit some response in Anakin, emotional, mental or otherwise, that Obi-Wan would pick up on even from this great distance. She did not understand the Force entirely or how the Jedi could use it, meaning she didn't know how little it might take to make the Jedi Master aware that something more than the assigned mission was going on at Naboo.

"What is it about?" Anakin asked, turning his head slightly as though to look over his shoulder, getting a grin from Padme as she watched him. No doubt he'd caught her intention to caress him and his own enigmatic smile in the dark promised her the chance when he was free.

"The Council intends to review the events that transpired on Geonosis and ascertain where to go from here to best bring this conflict to a quick conclusion."

Anakin let the commlink go, dropping his hand away from underneath it. For anyone else, the comm would have clattered to the floor. In this instant, buoyed by the Force, the device hung in air in front of Anakin as he retrieved a band from the nightstand and gathered the slightly longer hair on the back of his head into his hand and tied it in the customary Padawan ponytail (the braid at the side of his head, since it did not impede the ability to sleep, was not taken down). "Does the Council think this war will be a short one?" Anakin asked, his voice skeptical.

Padme frowned to herself, thoughts returning to the battle on Geonosis. It was too close and too real. And it reminded her that they were all at war, every nation in the Galactic Republic. A reality she'd been just as happy to forget for the days, maybe even hours, the rest of the universe could spare to give her in Anakin's arms. Not wishing to hear the discussion about the war (at least not right now), she moved softly to the other side of the bed and slipped out from under the covers, retrieving a sheer blue robe from the floor and slipping it on. With as little noise as possible, she moved out on to the balcony into the night air to leave Anakin to his business.

Anakin watched her over his shoulder, sensing her sudden disquiet (and projecting his senses to asure that no threat awaited her outside), but had to tend first to his master's communique before he could go to her.

Obi-Wan was already answering, returning Anakin's attention and thoughts to the matter at hand, "No one is seeing a quick resolution to this," the elder Jedi seemed to state the obvious (all of the the Jedi could see glimpses, shadows of the future, and not for a long time were they of peace), "but I don't need to point out the folly in making no effort immediately merely because we know it will be a long fight. Our roles obligate us to act as quickly and correctly as we can, in this case to challenge the future we see."

"Of course, Master." Anakin demurred as he retook the comm device in his hand and began to fish clothing articles off the floor, "I shall return as soon as I can... it is the middle of the night on Naboo right now."

Obi-Wan relented easily enough, "Very well... I'll be expecting you back on Courscant shortly."

"I'll be as quick as I can," Anakin said in farewell, shutting off the commlink and setting the device back on the nightstand. He'd managed to pull on his dark pants and tan under tunic. Considering his destination, it was dress enough. Almost as an unconscious afterthought, he clipped his lightsaber to the hem of his pants near his hip; a Jedi was never caught without his weapon.

Anakin padded on bare feet out toward the balcony, stopping at the threshold when he caught sight of his wife, content for a moment just to watch.

Padme was dressed in nothing more than her nightgown and translucent blue robe, her hair unrestrained and pooling down her shoulders and back. She was standing with her back to him, silent, but swaying ever so faintly on her feet from side to side... as though dancing with memories and unaware she was being watched.

Anakin felt her, sensed her through the Force. She was resigned, accepting, still noticeably upset. 'Sad' he told himself. And even with that, there was a great understanding and peace about her. The peace that she always had, even in combat... the peace that soothed him, cooled something deep inside him that was hot and angry when caught even slightly off balance. She made him feel as a Jedi should, able to subdue all of those gnawing red demons in the corners of his mind, the deep inner turmoil he fought with his entire time with the Jedi. Instead the emotions clawing at him when he was near her were of profound love, and Anakin Skywalker could not understand how that was wrong.

Jedi should not love, but he could not understand how something as good as love could be wrong. By no stretch of mental training or imagination could he see loving Padme as being wrong.

Anakin moved up silently behind her as she swayed, never sensing alert to his presence in her thoughts. He was going to surprise her when he finally spoke or touched, he was good at being stealthy as was in his extensive training, and he wondered how the unexpected attack would be received. It was almost fun to speculate.

Without a sound, he came up behind her and slipped his arms around her body. There was no startle, not even a little jump... she melted into him, leaning fractionally back into his body upon first physical contact. In her feelings he sensed an easing of her worries... calm, love, comfort, trust. That she could feel them so absolutely for him made him love her even more.

Padme leaned against his chest, dropping her arms over his as they interlocked over her stomach, and asked softly, "When?"

Anakin rested his cheek against her dark hair, pulling her gently closer to him, "We have until dawn, then I must return to the Jedi Temple."

Padme nodded faintly, offering no objections. She understood... they both knew they would have to return to their other lives, that their time on the waterfront palace could not last long. She would have duties of her own soon enough... she was fighting in this war, too.

Anakin sensed her troubled thoughts and tried to brush them away (in a mind as strong as Padme's, he'd only be able to do so with her willingness). The war could wait until morning for both of them.

Padme let him sweep the war as far from her mind as he could, having no wish tonight to hold on to it. When the calm serenity replaced her tense thoughts once more, she moved with it. Still locked in Anakin's arms, she leaned against one of his arms then the other in an even slighter sway than before.

Anakin let her move, whispering in her ear with a hint of amusement, "What are you dancing to?"

Padme looked up toward the moon, answering broadly, "Listen... they're the most beautiful musicians."

Anakin stopped to hear what she did, asking, a little surprised, "The insects?"

"And the birds,and the waves... they're singing in harmony, like an orchestra... can't you hear it?" she asked, her voice almost a dreamy, drugged euphoria.

Anakin opened his senses to hear, and quickly he did. The animals of the Naboo night did indeed sing together, not in a chaotic melee of calls and sounds that overlapped each other haphazardly, but there was a very lyrical cadence to their calls. A compliment and synchronization of pitches and species-specific songs, all kept in rhythm by the gentle lapping of the waves. For everything he heard, Anakin also felt the life Force behind it, making it more beautiful than, sadly, Padme could ever experience it. He had a complete other sense by which to absorb it that his wife lacked. A fact, for a moment, that made him a little sad.

And yet, even with that, it had taken Padme pointing out the music in the night for him to hear it. Perhaps it wasn't with how many senses one had to listen with, but rather how well one listened with just one sense.

Anakin noticed Padme had begun swaying more noticeably in his arms, him unconsciously yielding slightly to her actions and moving with her. For a second it was hard to remember that Padme couldn't feel the Force, because she was moving with it in tandem with that of the night's symphony around them.

It was so naturally raw, so simple, that they could almost stop being a senator and a Jedi and relent instead to being only two people in love whose love, as raw and as simple, could never be wrong.

Anakin shifted a half-step back, loosening his arms. When Padme looked over her shoulder questioningly at him, he used his hands on her waist to guide her in an about-face. They stood facing one another, looking deeply into each other's moonlit eyes a moment, then Anakin gave her a gentle half-smile and stepped back to her, wrapping his arms around her back and moving gently.

Padme understood in a fraction of a second, moving in closer to his body, tucking her arms against her chest and resting her temple on Anakin's chest, grounded and centered by his heartbeat, and together they swayed to the night's music. Padme was practically curled against Anakin's chest, the Jedi holding her tenderly from all the things that plagued her.

They might not return to bed tonight... at least not for sleep. They had only until dawn. After tomorrow, fates would doubtless test their endurance and their faith, but that was tomorrow. Tonight they had only each other and the dance under Naboo's moon.

END


End file.
